and back into despair again
by ikuzonos
Summary: even changing one thing ignites a revolution. (AU where the casts switch (so DR1 cast are on an island, while SDR2 cast is in the school))
1. Chapter 1

Being a team manager is a talent, apparently.

Nekomaru Nidai stares at the school, fists clenched and prepared. He's going to make people proud, and he thinks this the whole way up to the front doors. It's not his fault that he faints.

He wakes in a classroom, alone and confused. It doesn't take time to find the others, gathered nervously in the gym. He's not great with names, but he remembers a few here and there.

Nanami, Kuzuryuu, and Pekoyama, among others. There's also a photographer, a princess, and Hajime Hinata, the mysterious boy in the corner of the room who won't reveal a thing.

It becomes a blur to Nekomaru, but it only gets worse when the bear arrives.

 _Kill your classmates to escape!_

He won't, he tells himself.

But will the others agree to this?

* * *

It takes a few days. In this time, he makes friends with a few. The mechanic, Souda is good natured, and (almost) everyone wants to be friends with Ibuki Mioda. Nekomaru cherishes these people, cherishes this time, because he knows it will happen.

* * *

Hajime Hinata, Super High-School Level Mystery, is found dead in his own shower.

Stabbed through the stomach with a knife, he lies lifelessly on the cold tiles. Blood stains his clothes, and splatters the walls.

Nekomaru shuts his eyes, while Tsumiki screams.

* * *

Nekomaru Nidai watches Pekoyama die in front of him.

Spears thrust through her small body, and he can only stare in horror. Her pale eyes stay wide in horror, and then she collapses.

The mastermind is really willing to kill.

* * *

They prove it again when Togami is executed.

Togami, who killed Hinata in desperation, who needed to know what he was hiding.

Nekomaru watches the heavyset man freeze to death, and he cries.

This isn't right.

* * *

Who would kill over their worst secret?

Nekomaru says he wouldn't, but the others could. He said that nobody would die last time, and they lost three people.

 _Nekomaru Nidai has a life threatening heart condition._

He says nobody will kill, nobody will kill over their secret.

And then he finds Kazuichi Souda crucified in the boys locker room.

* * *

Souda, his dear friend, is gone. Gone from this world, stolen by a yakuza so bitter that he swung down a switchblade all too fast.

But he can't hate Kuzuryuu, not after watching him get shot. His hands reach out to Pekoyama, who's somehow here, but it's merely a Monokuma. Kuzuryuu dies shaken and but smiling.

* * *

Money.

It's a strong motivator, and it got someone to kill. The scent of death is in the air, and there's so much blood everywhere.

Money killed Teruteru Hanamura.

And as Tanaka reports quietly, it also killed Mahiru Koizumi.

* * *

Nagito Komaeda won three hundred million yen in the lottery. Prior to that, he inherited his family's fortune.

So why? Why did he kill not once, but _twice_?

Koizumi, sweet sweet Koizumi, tried to save his life, despite her dislike of him. She finds the rope around his neck, and she tries to save him, and how does Komaeda respond?

By slashing her across the throat.

And Hanamura had seen the whole thing, there's no way he could escape with his life. He dies, his mind on Hanamura Restaurant, on his mother.

* * *

Komaeda burns to death on a trapeze platform, still laughing about the hope of the world.

* * *

Ibuki Mioda, lively Ibuki Mioda, is the traitor.

Owari moves to punch her, but Nanami holds her back. Ibuki's gone within seconds.

And they find her in the rec room, blood staining her head and pouring out her mouth.

* * *

Sonia tries to blame herself.

Nobody will let her, not as it becomes apparent that Ibuki's death was self inflicted.

They all cry, hugging each other tightly in the courtroom, while Monokuma laughs and laughs and laughs.

* * *

 _They call her Hiyoko Saionji, the Ultimate Despair. Watch out for her._

Nanami says this, and then Nekomaru doesn't see her again, as if she vanished.

* * *

There is a body found in the garden.

But who? Nobody is dead, at least that's what he thinks.

Nanami, mysterious Nanami who has been gone for so long has returned.

And the body? Belongs to one Hiyoko Saionji.

* * *

They try to kill him.

Nekomaru ends up on the chopping board, but he's innocent, he really is.

He thinks he's going to die, he's ready, but then a compartment opens in the floor and he falls and falls and falls.

* * *

Nanami comes to his rescue, Tsumiki at her side. They demand a retrial for Hiyoko Saionji, and Monokuma reluctantly complies.

* * *

It comes down to six against the mastermind.

Nekomaru, the manager. Nanami, the gamer. Tsumiki, the nurse. Tanaka, the breeder. Owari, the gymnast. Sonia, the princess.

They will fight, they must.

* * *

Peko Pekoyama is not dead.

She's been alive the entire time, holed in a control room. She made Hiyoko Saionji, not despair, but a dancer, pretend to be a swordswoman.

And it worked.

Peko Pekoyama is the mastermind.

* * *

She freezes she's shot she burns she downs the poison she's crushed.

Ultimate Despair Peko Pekoyama is dead.

* * *

The doors to the Academy open, and Nekomaru takes his friends hands, and they venture into the unknown.

They will go on.


	2. Chapter 2

So he was on an island.

He was okay with that. Mondo Oowada liked vacations, and wasn't huge on school. He could probably live with this.

The fifteen others with him were somewhat irritating, but Mondo decided he could live with them. He recognized a few from popular media, an idol, a model, a baseball player.

Others have names that stick out in his mind, Togami, and Celeste in particular.

(When you're the leader of a biker gang, the richest people in the city tend to stick out in your mind.)

And there's Kyouko Kirigiri, who is a mystery. She hardly speaks, but when she does, she is quick and cryptic.

He tries not to think about it, he's a _biker_ , why would he care?

Of course, there was the bear to worry about.

 _In order to leave this island, you gotta kill your friends!_

Why would he want to leave, though? That's what Mondo doesn't quite get.

* * *

He accidentally befriends the hall monitor.

Mondo doesn't know what he's thinking, but despite Ishimaru's abrasive native, they somehow bond. The programming kid, Fujisaki, is sweet too.

Are they really friends? Won't they kill each other?

Mondo thinks they won't, but what does he know? He's already killed someone once.

But never again, never again.

* * *

So they've all lost their memories of their time at Hope's Peak Academy.

That's fine, Mondo would rather not remember going to school.

Why though, why would he have to forget? What would Monokuma _want_ them to forget?

* * *

Parties are nice.

Mondo likes parties, except goodbye parties, cause that's how Daiya died.

It's when the power goes out that it all comes rushing back, his mind on his brother, as the truck crashed into him head on.

Ishimaru clings to him like a child, and Mondo can't blame him, he's this close to crying himself.

He has to be strong, Mondo's very image is that he's strong.

And the lights come up again.

And Chihiro Fujisaki is lying dead under the table in the corner.

* * *

Someone is screaming.

 _Mondo_ , Mondo is screaming.

Fujisaki is his friend, and now they're dead.

Hagakure's freaking out, and Asahina has tears in her eyes, and Mondo is screaming.

He has to know who did this. He has no choice.

* * *

Luck.

Super High-School Level Good Luck Makoto Naegi laughs at them, at everyone.

Why is he laughing?

They don't know, but now Maizono's crying, because they were friends, and Naegi decided to kill someone to leave.

 _Fuck_ , Naegi thought he could use his good luck to deceive everyone.

Mondo wants to rip him to shreds himself, but he can't.

Ikusaba and Kirigiri are silent, but they looked betrayed.

Luck.

* * *

Naegi's put in a barrel, and more swords than Mondo's ever seen plunge into it, and he's still laughing.

It's not right, it's not fair.

* * *

Okay, but who the fuck would kill over a _video game?_

A video game that he has not played, and will not play.

What does Mondo care about video games?

No, he's gonna go to the beach with his bro, and they're gonna have a nice time and-

and he's found Sayaka Maizono in the beach house, covered in blood, a steel baseball bat at her side.

* * *

Maizono, sweet gentle Sayaka Maizono, was taken too quickly.

Mukuro screams accusations at the court, at everyone from Yamada to Sakura to Fukawa.

But the confession she begged for so badly, came from the last person Mondo ever expected.

His bro.

* * *

Kiyotaka Ishimaru killed Sayaka Maizono, because she covered up a murder that a friend of her's had committed.

Mondo doesn't understand.

What he understands, is that his bro is covered in confetti and balloons, but he's been shot in the stomach, and he sees all the blood, and he's dying.

His bro is dead.

* * *

Junko tries to keep people upbeat.

Mondo doesn't know how she does it, but it must be because her sister won't stop crying, not since Maizono's death.

Even Kirigiri smiles, it's just once for a fleeting second, but Junko's cheeriness works.

Of course, it doesn't stop people like Togami and Fukawa from getting angry.

* * *

The motives get more ridiculous as time goes on, Mondo thinks.

A disease? Who would kill over that?

(never mind that his bro killed over a video game)

As sick as they are, he has to not focus. Okay, so Fukawa's now super over confident, and Leon's behaving in a disgusting manner, and Hagakure's making _valid points_ , but nobody will kill not over this.

* * *

Sakura Oogami is hanging from a noose in the music venue.

Mondo runs.

* * *

He finds them, Celeste, Junko, and Yamada, and they run back, run back to find Sakura and-

and Kyouko Kirigiri is strapped to a pole, her neck bleeding.

* * *

Byakuya Togami is the murderer, but he refuses to say it was the disease. No, he did it because Kyouko Kirigiri was a traitor, the one who infiltrated the group, he's certain of it. And Sakura witnessed it, she had to die, it was the only way.

 _Except the traitor's still alive._

Monokuma laughs as he tells Togami this, and Togami stares blankly, and it's then that Mondo knows that's not why he did it.

He killed because of the disease, to save someone from dying.

But he denies it even as the metal claw drags him away.

* * *

He freezes to death, and it feels awfully familiar.

* * *

He's hungry.

He's fucking hungry.

So's everyone, they're all dying of starvation.

This is the first real motive, Mondo thinks, this is where shit gets real.

They're doing fucking Tai Chi, they're all starving, his stomach is caving in on itself, god, if he can't make it then who will?

* * *

Mukuro Ikusaba has a knife through her neck.

Mondo's never been so glad to see a corpse in his life, no matter how morbid it is, his mind is on the food he's shovelling into his mouth.

She's still dead, the girl who cried for weeks over an idol, she's followed her to the grave.

* * *

 _A suicide pact._

Mukuro Ikusaba was tired of watching people starve. She couldn't do it, she couldn't watch her sister go through with this.

And she'd already lost someone, so now was the part where they got to see each other again.

If only Yamada hadn't found her in the tower, fought with her to keep her alive, only to accidentally stab her.

Only one person was supposed to die, it was supposed to be Mukuro.

At least Yamada confessed right away.

* * *

He's struck with laser beams from an anime character, and Mondo feels hollow but he wants to laugh.

* * *

Fukawa is going to bomb the entire island.

Not unless the traitor comes forward, because the traitor is the reason Togami is dead.

They all try to calm her down, she's out of her mind, but Fukawa will only scream.

Even Junko, who had to find her sister's corpse, is able to stay calm, but Mondo can see the cracks in her perfect smile, he catches each falter, because he's the same. He's still wearing a mask to cover up the face of the person who killed Daiya.

Fukawa's going to bomb the island, they're all going to die-

and the warehouse is on fire.

It's burning to the ground, they're trying to put it out, but it's not working.

and Touko Fukawa is dead.

* * *

There's six of them left.

Who did it, who killed Touko Fukawa?

Was it Fukawa herself?

Was it all of them?

They don't know, they don't know.

But it has to be the traitor, because Fukawa would want to bring the traitor down with her.

The traitor...

Who is it?

Asahina suggests, that maybe the traitor can't reveal themself. They they aren't able.

And then it becomes obvious, but Mondo can't make himself do it, Junko has to ask for him.

* * *

Aoi Asahina killed Touko Fukawa.

Aoi Asahina is the traitor.

Aoi Asahina is smiling.

* * *

She gets eaten alive by sharks, and she's no longer smiling, she's not brave anymore, she's crying and begging for mercy.

* * *

There are five of them left, when they discover they're in a simulation.

There are five of them left, when they discover that Aoi Asahina is an artificial intelligence.

There are five of them left, when they discover that each and every one of them is Ultimate Despair.

* * *

Five against the mastermind.

Mondo, the biker. Junko, the model. Celeste, the gambler. Leon, the baseball player. Hagakure, the fortune teller.

Five against Peko Pekoyama, who is Ultimate Despair.

* * *

The Future Foundation comes to their rescue, to shut down the program. Nekomaru Nidai, Chiaki Nanami, and Mikan Tsumiki all join hands with the remnants, and together, they execute AI Peko Pekoyama.

* * *

 _And even if I forget, I will try my hardest to remember!_

* * *

And they will live on.


End file.
